AUGUSTA, Ga () – The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has implemented its new Downtown Safety Plan, and they are already seeing improvements.

Sheriff Eugene Brantley recently announced a 25% decrease in Part 1 crimes from January 1st through May 10th of this year.

Part 1 crimes are serious crimes including homicides, aggravated assaults, robbery and rape.

Cpt. Danny Whitehead with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office says everyone was thrilled when the statistics were released.

“Also taking a holistic approach to other problems like homelessness, panhandling and other things like that, but overall, 25%, we are super excited about that, we are going to continue to plan, as we get into the summer months we know we are going to see a lot of activity and we want to be prepared for that,” Cpt. Whitehead said.

He says while they are still patrolling all of Richmond County, they have deputies in marked and unmarked cars as well as on foot in Downtown Augusta.

Deputies are placed from 5th to 13th street on every block.

Being able to achieve this milestone is a joint effort.

“We have the additional manpower, we’ve created a HOT team, which is the homeless task force team, we’ve increased our crime suppression team, we have more additional investigators, so we’re making quicker arrests, we’re solving crimes faster, so that also goes towards it,” said Cpt. Whitehead.

The decrease has occurred during Sheriff Brantley’s first 130 days in office, and this is just one of his goals to improve Richmond County.

“We take that time to do exactly what Sheriff Brantley has been talking about, community policing, so not only are they just patrolling and walking, they’re actually interacting and talking with the public while they’re out there,” Cpt. Whitehead said.

He says the Sheriff’s Office is always looking to improve its Safety Plan and their leaders have ideas for the future that will do just that.